(Original post by toronto353)
It all depends on what your interest is. The Odyssey, Iliad and Aeneid are all good starting points and epic is where I started when I read texts in translation and in Latin/ Greek for the first time. Cicero is good, but I have to admit that I'm committing the cardinal sin in my class for not actually liking Cicero. What are you interested in then?

Literature and politics are my two main interests, but I'm quite open other than that. A play would be nice, but as for particulars I don't really mind. Just something vaguely interesting and not incomprehensible

(Original post by DebatingGreg)
Literature and politics are my two main interests, but I'm quite open other than that. A play would be nice, but as for particulars I don't really mind. Just something vaguely interesting and not incomprehensible

I started with Euripides' Medea. That play is well worth a read. Latin drama isn't particularly exciting really. Plautine comedy is a little too complicated, I understand that Terence's comedies are as well and Greek tragedy is seen as far superior to Senecan tragedy.

(Original post by toronto353)
I started with Euripides' Medea. That play is well worth a read. Latin drama isn't particularly exciting really. Plautine comedy is a little too complicated, I understand that Terence's comedies are as well and Greek tragedy is seen as far superior to Senecan tragedy.

Oh thanks. I know my teacher seems to like it as well, so it'll be interesting to see what he says

Yeah you still seem to have had a different experience to me. Mind you, I was taught by graduates and the head of department wasn't even forty so I'm assuming that they aren't as jaded as your teachers were/ are.

(Original post by DebatingGreg)
Oh thanks. I know my teacher seems to like it as well, so it'll be interesting to see what he says

It's interesting for its portrayal of Medea which is different from Apollonius' epic the Argonautica apparently. She's not the nicest of women, but she's probably one of the more unhinged shall we say. The Vellacott translation isn't accurate to the Greek, but accessible and enjoyable.

My Greek teacher was fantastic and easily the best teacher I've ever had. In his early 60s, went through Cambridge then into the army, then got his MA and started teaching. His normal mode of communication was loud and his angry mode of communication was louder. He was permanently grumpy, but that was always just a show, he was probably actually the most understanding of any of the teachers I've had - he knew exactly what was going through your mind. Spoke fluent modern Greek, knew every area in Greece like the back of his hand - spent two weeks in a Greek prison once. Retired now, lives in Korinthos.

(Original post by TopHat)
My Greek teacher was fantastic and easily the best teacher I've ever had. In his early 60s, went through Cambridge then into the army, then got his MA and started teaching. His normal mode of communication was loud and his angry mode of communication was louder. He was permanently grumpy, but that was always just a show, he was probably actually the most understanding of any of the teachers I've had - he knew exactly what was going through your mind. Spoke fluent modern Greek, knew every area in Greece like the back of his hand - spent two weeks in a Greek prison once. Retired now, lives in Korinthos.

Classics teachers have great life experience in many cases - especially in your teacher's case. I have had one teacher who could reference any part of the Iliad or Odyssey in Greek which was either really clever or really sad.

(Original post by TopHat)
My Greek teacher was fantastic and easily the best teacher I've ever had. In his early 60s, went through Cambridge then into the army, then got his MA and started teaching. His normal mode of communication was loud and his angry mode of communication was louder. He was permanently grumpy, but that was always just a show, he was probably actually the most understanding of any of the teachers I've had - he knew exactly what was going through your mind. Spoke fluent modern Greek, knew every area in Greece like the back of his hand - spent two weeks in a Greek prison once. Retired now, lives in Korinthos.